Olga Talal

Dr. Olga Talal is an Associate at the Centre for European and Eurasian Studies (CEES) at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto and a Visiting Researcher at the Department of Government, Wesleyan University. Before coming to Wesleyan University, she was the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. She received her PhD in 2021 from the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University, Canada.

Dr. Talal’s research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of comparative politics and public policy, with a particular focus on nationalism studies and ethnic politics. She conducts comparative analysis of nation-building and minority policies with regional expertise in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East, drawing on extensive field research in Estonia, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Israel. Dr. Talal’s research is motivated by the questions of how multi-ethnic states manage ethnic diversity and deliver public goods, and how ethnic minorities exercise agency under structural disadvantage. Her research has been published in Comparative Political Studies, Politics & Policy, and Nationalities Papers.